5 Rules for the listing of channels for every DTH
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| 5 Rules for the listing of channels that every DTH, cable and radio service provider must follow |
5 Rules for the listing of channels that every DTH, cable, and radio service provider must follow: These new channel listing rules are part of the new cable TV regulations.
As of March 31, the old cable television rules will cease to apply, and every cable and DTH user in India will have to comply with the new cable television regulations enforced by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
The original deadline for the implementation of the new cable television regulations was 28 December 2018, which was postponed to 31 January. Now the 31st of March is the last one.
To help consumers and clarify, TRAI has issued five important guidelines for all broadcasters, DTH and cable companies in India.
This means that broadcasters like Star India, Zee, Colors, Discovery, etc. as well as DTH operators like Tata Sky, Dish TV, Airtel Digital etc. and cable companies like Hathway and SITI Cable meet these requirements.
Here are the 5 rules ordered by TRAI:
Rule # 1: Mandatory EPG for All
TRAI has stated that every DTH and cable TV operator in India must include an EPG or an electronic programming guide for its users.
Including this guide in the main menu of DTH services is part of last year's announcement of the new cable television regulation. TRAI has issued guidelines for the ECG, as some DTH and cable operators have not yet included them.
Rule # 2: Highlighting the channel's genre is a must
Under TRAI's new cable TV guidelines, each broadcaster, such as Star India, Zee, Sony, TV18, etc., must categorize each station shown on the ECG.
This means that no channel can be displayed in standalone mode in the guide. There must be a definition of the channel type. Popular categories include general entertainment, infotainment, kids, movies, sports, news and current affairs or anything else and more.
This categorization of channels has been mandated so that consumers can make an informed choice and know which category of channels they subscribe to.
Rule # 3: Consistency in the channel list
TRAI has stated that the broadcasters listed in the electronic program guide or in the EPG should have consistent categories under the new cable television regulations.
This means that the categories under which broadcasters have grouped their broadcasters should be managed by the DTH / Cable operator and not be changed for their convenience.
So, if Star India has classified Star Sports as a sports category, DTH operator says that Tata Sky cannot be classified as entertainment (just for the sake of argument). This was done to ensure that consumers receive consistent information and support in selecting the best channels on all platforms.
Rule # 4: The listing should not be duplicated
If a channel in a particular genre and category has been placed inside the ECG, that channel cannot be repeated on the ECG.
A channel must, therefore, appear only once in the ECG. To implement this, each channel in the ECG must be assigned only one logical channel number (LCN), not several.
This eliminates any confusion, and the cable TV user can only select a channel once in its base package (Rs130 plus GST for 100 channels).
Rule # 5: The logical channel number cannot be changed for one year
To further strictly enforce the uniqueness of each channel rule, TRAI has indicated that once a channel has been assigned a logical channel number, it can not be changed for one year.
If Zee Zee itself has assigned a logical channel number (eg 101), it can not be changed until one year later. Zee News must be categorized by the broadcaster (Zee itself) into a category that must be presented as provided by the DTH / Cable operator, and it should appear only once.
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